Vanessa Nightray
Vanessa Nightray (ヴァネッサ＝ナイトレイ, Vanessa Naitorei) was the older sister of Elliot Nightray and Duke Bernard Nightray's only daughter. She was known to be very hostile towards the Vessaliuses , unlike her younger brother. She met her end when Elliot was controlled by Humpty Dumpty into assassinating her. History Vanessa Nightray was the fourth born child of Bernard and Bernice Nightray , being younger than Fred , Claude and Ernest Nightray and older than her lone younger brother, Elliot Nightray. While Vanessa was still young, her father took in a boy the Nightray valets had found outside of the Nightrays' Door to the Abyss who was barely alive. Vanessa's older siblings, as well as her uncle were known to hate Vincent for calling himself a Nightray however, this hate escalated when Gilbert , a boy who was found in similar condition to Vincent years before outside of the Vessaliuses' Door to the Abyss, was adopted into the Dukedom . Although her brothers had a clear hatred for their two adopted siblings, Vanessa did not appear to be as malicious towards them. Vanessa teamed up with Ernest to explain to Elliot that it was a requirement for him to have a valet now that he was fourteen. Vanessa hands Elliot a list of candidates, which Elliot wasn't happy about. Ernest saw and told Elliot not to seem so upset, also telling Elliot to come with him so that Ernest could take him somewhere nice. Ernest then brought Elliot with him and Claude as they traveled to Sablier , which was where Elliot met Leo , who later became Elliot's valet. Gilbert had only just formed a Legal Contract with Raven , a task that Vanessa's father and older brothers had all failed at doing themselves. Vanessa got word that someone had assassinated Fred by cutting off his head, and so Vanessa frantically searched for Elliot, finding him in Gilbert's room speaking with Gilbert about Raven and explaining the situation to both of them. Soon after, Vanessa's uncle was also decapitated, and Gilbert was targeted by the Head Hunter as well. The Nightray mansion was burned down, inside was a mass amount of corpses from the guests of the mansion, and Vanessa's older brothers, Claude and Ernest, all executed by the Head Hunter. Gilbert left the Nightray mansion after Claude and Ernest's assassination to protect the people he cared about, leaving Vanessa alone with her parents, Elliot and Vincent. Vanessa watched as a foreigner named Isla Yura took advantage of Bernice's weakness brought on by her dead family members and warped her mind, Vanessa looked to her father for guidance, but Bernard continuously pretended that nothing was wrong, also going as far as to work in a partnership with Yura. Her father's lack of care brought on a sense of disgust in Vanessa, and since then, Vanessa has made it her job to ensure Elliot's safety. Plot The Feast Arc After hearing from Leo that the Head Hunter had re-emerged, Elliot and Leo ellude Elliot's guards and escape the Nightray mansion, traveling to Pandora's Headquarters and requesting that Reim Lunettes allow them to meet with Oz. While this happened, Vanessa and Bernice frantically search for Elliot, worried about his safety because of the Head Hunter. When Elliot later returned to the Nightray estate, Vanessa slapped him, demanding why he left the mansion, adding in how worried she and Bernice had been about him. A man came up from behind Elliot and told Vanessa that that would be enough, as Elliot was doing it all for his brothers, stating that he was very brave for doing so. Isla Yura greeted Elliot and Vanessa and happily trotted over to the two of them. Shortly after the arrival of Isla Yura came the announcement of Oz's Coming of Age Ceremony . As members of the Four Great Dukedoms, it was their duty to attend, and so Vanessa traveled with Elliot, Leo, Hans , Gilbert and Vincent, to represent the Nightrays at that ceremony. When Elliot greeted Oz at the ceremony, Vanessa kept her distance, having the same hatred for the Vessalius Family that Bernard had taught all of his children. Elliot gave Oz three feathers to symbolize their recognizing of Oz coming into society. Elliot explained that one of them was from him, one was Leo's and the other was Vanessa's, which he had to pry out of her hands in order to give it to Oz. Vanessa was sitting with Hans in the ballroom when people in red capes arrived. The two shorter people in red decapitated an attendant of Isla Yura's, causing an outbreak of hysteria. The group, being Isla Yura's Cult , blocked all the exits and set fire to the mansion, also murdering guests they came across. Vanessa and Hans feverishly searched for Elliot. Vanessa and Hans found Elliot in the library a level above the ballroom. Vanessa asked what he was doing up there, also calling him stupid, and Elliot simply told her and Hans that they need to leave. Vanessa angrily grabbed onto Elliot and asked him how she could leave her younger brother when a man was just decapitated, as the Head Hunter could be close by. Vanessa then told Elliot that there was fire blocking all of the exits, and so they needed to find another way out of the mansion. Elliot stated that he couldn't leave because he had to find Leo. Vanessa angrily shouted that Elliot may as well leave Leo behind, asking what kind of valet left their master like Leo did, which was why Vanessa was against the idea of Elliot having a commoner as a valet, and yet Elliot still did it. The same went for today, no matter how much Vanessa tried to stop Elliot, she questioned Elliot why he was so willing to risk being attacked by the Head Hunter for the sake of Oz. Elliot pulled away from Vanessa and told her that he wasn't going to ignore the Vessaliuses anymore. Vanessa was shocked and asked Elliot to repeat himself, deducing that Leo must have talked Elliot into this. Vanessa questioned Elliot why he was always taking Leo's side, because she saw Leo as a bad influence on Elliot. Vanessa ordered Hans to grab Elliot and take him away, also telling Elliot not to worry, because if anything happened to Leo, she would find Elliot a new valet. Just then, Elliot slapped Vanessa, telling Vanessa to cut it out. Outraged, Vanessa slapped back at Elliot, telling him that he was the one who should cut it out, and asking him if he didn't realize that he was the only one she had left. Vanessa started crying as she talked about how the Head Hunter killed Fred, Claude and Ernest, which made their mother lose her mind and fall prey to Isla Yura, meanwhile, their father continued to pretend that he didn't see what's going on. Vanessa then asked what she would do if she lost Elliot too. Elliot was shocked, and embraced his crying sister. He apologized to Vanessa and said that the entire reason for coming to the ceremony was to catch the Head Hunter and to find out what connection Isla Yura has with the Head Hunter. Elliot told Vanessa to try and cheer up a bit, as next week was Bernice's birthday, and on behalf of their brothers, they should celebrate more splendidly than usual. Elliot told Vanessa that he'd composed a song called 'Lacie' that he was sure their mother would love. Vanessa said that Elliot's lying because he'd always complained about not being able to come up with anything decent in his letters and they laughed. Elliot assured Vanessa not to worry, as he wouldn't die easily, suddenly the two notice that the fire was already starting to spread up to the second level of the mansion. Hans led Elliot and Vanessa through the second level of the mansion to evade the fire. Upon seeing the dead bodies, Elliot recalled his recurring nightmare, where his sword was covered in blood and he's in the centre of a massacre, this caused Elliot to faint. Vanessa turned around, running to her brother, trying to wake him up. Upon unable to do so, she started looking for Hans. Vanessa met Leo at the stairs, where Leo asked if Vanessa was all right. Upon hearing Leo's voice, Elliot regained consciousness. Leo told Vanessa to calm down and listen to him, explaining that Hans had been decapitated downstairs. Vanessa overreacted and decided that Leo was in league with the attackers from the ballroom and that Leo was the one who killed Hans. Leo reached out for Vanessa to try and calm her down, but Vanessa claimed Leo a murderer and told him not to touch her, pushing Leo down the stairs. Vanessa began crying hysterically while screaming to Leo that ever since he showed up, everything had fallen apart, with the death of her brothers and Bernice losing her mind. Vanessa yelled at Leo, telling him that he ruined everything and to stay away from Elliot, threatening to kill Leo if anything happened to Elliot. Vanessa heard more guests' screams and Leo deduced that the intruders were heading their way. He told Vanessa that he would distract the intruders to allow Vanessa and Elliot to escape the mansion, he also reminded Vanessa to take care of Elliot before running in the direction of Isla Yura's Cult. Vanessa was shocked and called after Leo, muttering an order to not patronize her when Leo's out of reach. A brief of guilt flashed through her face. When she turned around, only to find Elliot was standing up and at the staircase, however it was not Elliot, as Elliot's Illegal Chain, Humpty Dumpty, made it his duty to protect Leo, and upon hearing Vanessa's threat and seeing Leo fall down the stairs, Humpty Dumpty put Elliot in a trance-like state so that he could make Elliot summon him to decapitate Vanessa. When Elliot again regained control, Vanessa's head has only just hit the ground, and Elliot watched as her headless body tumbles down the stairs. Xerxes Break then arrived and accused Elliot of being the Head Hunter for the murder of Vanessa Nightray. Description Appearance Vanessa has shoulder-length black hair and blue eyes. In her left ear, Vanessa has the cross-like symbol of the Nightrays as a piercing. Vanessa wears a black overcoat and a frilled undershirt that shows at the ends of the sleeves on her overcoat. On the back of her overcoat is a black bow, while on the front, Vanessa had a blue bow similar to the flower, statice, in colour. Vanessa wears black pants and a small leather choker around her neck. Personality She is shown to care deeply about her brother, most likely because all her other blood brothers were killed by the Head Hunter, though it is unknown how she feels to Gilbert and Vincent, she is known to have hated the Vessaliuses with every fiber of her being. Relationships Bernard Nightray Vanessa and her father's relationship is known to be very strained. While Bernard was one of few members of her family remaining, Vanessa hated her father. This was because Bernard had gone as far as to ignore the fact that his wife was losing her mind and devoting her time to Isla Yura, also because Bernard then had the gall to collude with the foreigner, forming a partnership with him in pursuit of an investment in the House of Fianna. Elliot Nightray Elliot was Vanessa's only remaining sibling after the Head Hunter plagued the Nightray family for the first time, eliminating Fred, Claude and Ernest and almost killing her foster brother, Gilbert. Vanessa devoted herself to protecting Elliot, always keeping an eye on him and trying to ensure his safety because she viewed him as all she had left. Vanessa was furious when Elliot recklessly fled the mansion after hearing that the Head Hunter had reappeared, slapping him for making herself and their mother worry so much about him. Vanessa even went to Oz's second Coming of Age Ceremony, despite hating the Vessalius family, in order to protect her brother, however in pursuit of Elliot's safety, Vanessa hurt Leo, which lead to Humpty Dumpty using Elliot to end his sister's life. Gilbert Nightray Gilbert and Vanessa did not spend very much time with one another, although it did not appear as though Vanessa was malicious with Gilbert and Vincent as her three elder brothers and uncle had been. Although the two of them were never shown interacting with one another, Gil was shown to care very much for Vanessa, as he worried about Vanessa when the threat of the Head Hunter arose. This lead to Gilbert's departure from the Nightray mansion, as he had already been targeted by the Head Hunter, and didn't want to also endanger Vanessa and Elliot's own lives in the process. Vanessa was known to also be angry at Gil for leaving the Nightray mansion (however not as angry as Elliot), and was revealed by Vincent to scold Gil for it whenever he returned to the Nightray estate, often keeping Gilbert there by force. Their relationship beyond this remains unknown. Leo From the second that Elliot announced that he had chosen Leo as his valet, Vanessa had been angered by Leo's influence on her younger brother. Vanessa was disgusted with Elliot for choosing a commoner as his valet rather than a member of a lesser noble family, as all members of the Four Great Dukedoms were meant to do. Despite this, Vanessa respected her brother's decision and often kept her mouth shut about Leo. This all changed during Oz's second Coming of Age Ceremony, when Leo told Vanessa that Hans had died. Vanessa was traumatized by this and in her fit of hysteria, she blamed Leo for all that had gone wrong, pushing Leo down a flight of stairs and threatening his life if he dared approach Elliot ever again. Leo accepted this and held no ill will to Vanessa, distracting Isla Yura's cult for her and Elliot (leading to his capture) however she was assassinated in the end for her mistreatment of Leo. Quotes To Elliot Nightray *''"Elli... Fred... nii-sama... has... been killed... They say... he had his head... taken clean off by somebody."'' *''"Why did you dissappear from the mansion like that? Do you even know how worried we were, mother and I!? Elliot!"'' *''"Don't you realize that you're all I have left!?"'' *''"Don't worry... if something happened to that servant, I'll find you a new one myself!"'' To Leo *''"Don't touch me, murderer!"'' *''"Ever since you appeared, everything has fallen apart. Our brothers died... our mother lost her mind... everything! You ruined everything!"'' *''"Stay away from Elliot! If anything happens to him I'll kill you! I'll kill you!'' *''"Don't... don't patronize me!"'' Gallery ﻿ Evidence Vanessa.jpg Chap48.jpg Vanessa 4.jpg|Vanessa tells Eliot and Gilbert of Fred's death Vanessa 1.jpg|Vanessa's reaction to an assassination Vanessa 2.jpg|The death of Vanessa Nightray Vanessa 3.jpg|Vanessa's headless body falls... Vanessa in evidence.jpg|Vanessa wonders why she had to pose with Ernest and Claude in Pandora Hearts 18.5: Evidence February2014.jpg Nightrays.jpg Appearances Trivia *Vanessa perfers dogs to cats, but wouldn't be able to tolerate it if the dog brought back a dead bird. *Elliot told Leo that Vanessa liked to use the language of flowers, which was where he got the idea to name his song 'Statice' as it meant 'something which never changes'. *Gilbert left the Nightray estate permanently after Fred, Claude, Ernest and his foster uncle's assassination, as well as his own near death experience courtesy of the Head Hunter because he was worried that Vanessa and Elliot would get hurt if he stayed. Navigation Category:Nightray Family Category:Pandora members Category:Deceased Category:Characters Category:Victims of the Head Hunter Category:Female Category:Human Category:Manga Only